‘How I handled Ocean Bank’s crisis’

You have served the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in various capacities. Which of these was the most challenging?

The one I cherished most was my membership of and later a prosecutor and co-ordinator of the NBA legal team at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers, which I served continuously and uninterrupted for 11 years. I strongly believe that every lawyer should serve in that committee.

Why do you say this?

Because it fully exposes you to the basic tenets and norms of the profession. It exposes you to the problems in the profession and also helps you as a lawyer, to be careful in whatever you do, because it is not the big things that put people in trouble, it is little things you neglect. Indeed, I too have been investigated for two thousand Naira. It was that my investigation and clearance that led to my appointment into that committee by the then president of NBA, T. J. Oninmo Okpoko (SAN). When they were setting up the Disciplinary Committee, he said look, Dele Oye should go and serve there. While serving in that Committee, I saw the kind of mistakes that lawyers make, sometimes such mistakes are made out of ignorance of the rules of the profession and sometimes they are made deliberately. I think that every lawyer ought to know the rules, because it is the rule that determines your ability to practise and in dealing with your clients, but most lawyers are not aware of the rules and that is why they run foul of them.

What should be the role of legal education in this?

I think that legal education should start from teaching lawyers the rules of discipline and how they should relate with their clients, because after the duty of the lawyer to the profession, the next is the duty to our clients. Because we have a duty to ensure that in dealing with them, we do so professionally and while serving them, we handle a lot of cases.

What were the challenges that you confronted while serving in that committee?

While serving in that committee, we handled a lot of cases. One of the most challenges that faced the committee was the issue of the jurisdiction of the committee as it related to appellate matters. That matter came up in Okike’s case against Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC). That was the first appeal from the committee to the Supreme Court, because under the rules, appeal goes directly from the committee to the Supreme Court.

Why Supreme Court? Is that the law?

Yes, under the rules appeal goes directly from the committee to the Supreme Court. Under the constitution, appeals go from the court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, but this is the only exception to that rule. When the matter got to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court declined to hear it, stating that it did not come from the Court of Appeal and that they could not take it.

What did you do under this circumstance?

Well, I had to request that they raise a legal issue and that I needed a full panel to address the Supreme Court. After one hour argument, they obliged us and at the Supreme Court, they invited other Amicus briefs. After three hours of rigorous argument, a full panel of the Supreme Court agreed with me and said, indeed, the legal profession is a special profession and there is need to create a different section based on the laws. They did not just do that, but also laws supporting the action because the Section of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) changed the word appeal Committee to the Supreme Court for all appeals from that Committee. So, I was part of that effort and, indeed, I argued most of the cases that have gone from that committee to the Supreme Court. About five or six cases altogether, and I agued about four of them in the Supreme Court. My pioneering effort in this area is well-established and I am proud of it.

What effects did working with the committee have on you?

Working with that committee had greatly helped me personally and a great deal, in the sense that I have learnt all the rules of book keeping in it. This was the main thing that saved me apart from God, in the Cecilia Ibru matter where my client was alleged to have committed some infractions in the management of Oceanic bank. I was a lawyer to the bank and also to the family that owned majority shares in the bank; we were also their nominees in several companies. And you know that there is no way fire will raze a building without touching the people inside. I was directly affected, and when these things happened, I was not in the country and because of the volume of the transactions involved, I was getting calls and threats from all over the place, people thought that I had a lot of money. So, I had to make sure that I secured myself, I had to come back, honoured invitations from law enforcement agencies that were looking for me and explained my role in the transactions. Thereafter, I was cleared of all the allegations within three days of my arrival in the country despite the very huge smoke that was raised about me without fire. So, I am happy and I thank the committee because without what I knew in the committee, it would have been very difficult for me to have survived such very heavy allegations that were mounted against me by members of the public, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and, indeed, my own colleagues.

How did you manage those crises? What is your advice to lawyers in managing their clients, so that they avoid such untoward experience?

Because of the role we played for our clients, especially as nominees and various businesses, we were required basically to stand as witnesses for the State against our clients. And I don’t think that it is the duty of lawyers to bring down their clients. Whereas it is our duty to disclose any fraudulent conducts when are aware, I was not aware prior to the indictment of my client of any legal infractions by her, because the allegations against her were essentially that she took loans from within the bank without following due process. But we are not bankers; we were not in a position to know the nature and extent of these loans, or whether they had board approvals or whether they were appropriated or misappropriated. Indeed, like the EFCC report on us showed, there was not a single kobo in our clients accounts. That is why it was easy for first of all, to clear ourselves, because it is not a crime to be a nominee in a company. It is allowed by law to be a nominee, but it is a crime if you participate in a crime or infraction of the law. As the EFCC report to us shows, we are even requested to be witnesses in case if they decided proceed to trial. That is why we declined and said, look, you have enough evidence to deal with whoever you want to deal with, you shouldn’t make us to be unfair to our clients. It is like your priest telling your wife your confessions of extra marital relations if you were an unfaithful Catholic. I don’t know what will happen to that marriage. Those of us who are lawyers, at times we pass through this sort of fire, not necessarily because we are involved, but because we are acting for certain people, our clients.

Why did you keep quiet in the heat those crises?

I decided to keep quiet because that incident affected so many people; the public lost a lot of money in their investments, either in shares and even in that entity as a bank. It was not about my justification. That is why I kept quiet; everybody suffered there and I do not think that I suffered far and above other members of the public. Indeed, I was the lawyer in it. That is why I kept quiet. Indeed, my clients also suffered, one of them was convicted and it was not a time for me to carry drums be dancing as if I was the most pious person. That is why I deliberately did not respond to all these spurious allegations against me. People were just talking out of point. They were talking without knowledge or better still, they were not engaged by any person.

But most of them were your colleagues?

When a colleague says that he is now a crusader in a matter he was not hired by any person, then such persons were definitely motivated by malice and if you have so much time to waste on writing a jurisprudence about me, then I pity such persons. I now know who my friends are, the Police would say of friends those days, if you don’t think any of them has legal, or judicial powers to sentence you, they can decide to write petitions against you in their private law firms. Indeed, they have written several petitions about me, but in everyone they wrote, it is either they got themselves into trouble or I am cleared of the allegations completely.

What was the role of NBA?

They are not bigger than the association; the association in a general meeting has cleared me both at both committee stage and even at the general meeting. So, if they truly believe that they are lawyers and they believe that they are members of the profession, they ought to be bound by the superior wishes of the association than their current efforts to engage in personal malice. I will not respond to them. They are my very seniors. I suspect that they don’t have the facts because of the kind of allegation they are peddling against me, but Indeed, when they eventually get the facts, they will be very proud of me and will apologise. So, I have nothing against them, I have forgiven them and I believe that they are acting out of ignorance.

You were the chairman of Abuja Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) for three years. What was the experience like and how do you think Chambers of Commerce will catalyse our socio- economic development?

I want to thank God again for that opportunity which I think, as lawyers, leaders, we all need. I had the privilege of serving as the chairman of ABUCCIMA for a period of three years , I will not judge myself on my performance there, the impact I made there is left for the society to judge. It gave me the unique opportunity to serve and learn, I had to learn so much about business, I had to lead several trade delegation to several countries of the world both in Europe, America, India, China, Singapore and every where. At times, I had to lead the Federal Government delegations. For instance, when we went to Paris with the late President Umar’ Yar’ Adua, I led the Federal Government business delegation and I also led several trade missions, solo, bilateral and multilateral trade missions to Turkey, Cananda etc during my tenure. What I learnt in these things has also made me to know that we as lawyers, should create briefs, so that we can engage ourselves in other spheres. So that we at the middle class, can leave the traditional things that we usually do for the younger ones just entering the profession, so that we become much more specialised in some of these things by creating opportunities that were not hitherto there. We have a duty to both ourselves and to the profession, any lawyer you see who cannot make it in the profession, affects all of us because we all belong to this profession.

What were your achievements at the Chamber?

I am proud to say that after I left the Chamber of Commerce, the 1,000 capacity building which was in progress during my tenure was named after me. It is called Dele Oye Hall in appreciation for my contributions to the activities of the Chamber. Even though I was President at the time of Oceanic Bank crises, they didn’t t remove me as the president. They trusted me; they believed in my honesty because of the way I ran the Chamber. I never made a single kobo for myself personally, I used my own personal money to support the Chamber and to promote its image. I think that it is in realisation of this that the people decided that the only way to show appreciation is to name that structure after me.

How have you given back to society?

Well, they say that laughter is one thing that you cannot enjoy alone. So, if you have anything, you just share with others because the kind of joy you get in sharing is more than what you get when you eat alone. And if you look at billionaires all over the world, you can see that Bill Gates is having all manner of structures and endowments in his honour, while some of his mates are pursuing going to the moon and all the rest just because he is investing in humanity. Service to God and mankind is part of my life. I have been secretary of various parishes and pastoral councils in the church, even my services there give me opportunity to be very close the church. I have been involved in various church development programmes, in the building of churches and so on. Until the understanding that poverty alleviation is not the sole responsibility of the government but the collective duty of all citizens who are more fortunate than others is well grasped, the poverty level in the country will soar even higher. I have also adopted a village called Ketti which is about one hour drive from Apo in Abuja as my community since 1998.

How did you know the village and why the adoption?

I knew the village when a priest in the Catholic Church, Father Francis Kale, was posted to the village to revive the Catholic Church there. I followed him down to the place and was shocked at what I saw there. I was shocked beyond words to see that a village so close to the seat of power in the country languishing in that level of poverty. When I followed Father Kale to the village, it was impossible to drive our vehicle to the community. We had to park our cars and walk a distance of about 1.5 kilometres to get into the village. When we got there the condition under which people lived was so harsh, there was no water, no healthcare facilities, no schools, and no sense of belonging. This was when I decided to adopt the community as my own and to mobilise help towards improving the lives of those people

What has been the outcome?

Having considered the enormity of the challenge that these rural people faced as a community, it was obvious that a one-off borehole or classroom block project may not be a sustainable way to support the community. These efforts have led to the provision of pipe-borne water in the community and a programme under which some members of the community have received employments in the FCT while some of the students have received academic scholarships. Because I have adopted the community as my own, I see them as a part of my responsibility. I may not have enough to give to them as an individual, but I have friends, associates and relatives who I can easily pool together in response to essential needs that need to be met in this place.